Another Free Zone Developed In Iraq

01 Nov 2012

General Authority of Iraq for Free Zones, which is controlled by the Ministry of Finance, has signed a settlement with Basra International Oil and Gas Hub (BIOGH) to build an oil and gas Free Zone for a particular purpose at the Khor Al-Zubair’s port.
The agreement involves tax exemptions for the statements of the settlement as well as other helpful factors. The international law firm DLA Piper advised the BIOGH which is a private company. Although situated within Iraq, private companies set up in the free zones are taken into account as performing external side of Iraq.
There exists a Free Zone known as Khor Al-Zubair. There are no Iraqi taxes applied on the salaries of foreign workers or on the business profits in the Free Zone. Moreover the taxes on salaries of Iraqi workers are 50% free. There is more, all the import and export operations performed by Free Zone projects are free from usual behavior that means and there are no repatriation charges of capital and profit. License is valid for 25 years for working with projects, with a benefit of extending for a further 25 years.
In total, it is arranged that the BIOGH advancement will comprise an area of 11 million square meters. It will be the second greatest oil and gas Free Zone in the world. The scheme will also supply places for the increasing manufacturing, storage and servicing requirements of oil and gas sector of Iraq. Iraq has more Free Zones at Al-anbar/Qaim, Ninevah/Flaifil, and Sulaymaniyah in Northern Iraq.
Source [Tax News]